Apples and Spaghetti

Objective:

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To persist in constructing a structure out of a fixed set of materials

 

Key Words/concepts:

Persistence

 

Overview of Lesson & Differentiation:

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I had found that previously many of the Kindergarten and 1st grade students were getting frustrated with activities and giving up.  The teachers also reported students not wanting to continue an activity if it was hard for them at the first try.  To help combat this, I presented this lesson as an example of something new that no one had done before and that would be tough but that they would need to be persistent with in order to succeed.  Once the students received the supplies, we practiced putting one apple on the end of a piece of spaghetti, which did indeed take some time and let to a discussion about how easy it is to break the spaghetti.  The attitude in the room was very much all about about trying again and being positive about any setbacks.  After connecting one piece, the students then made an L shape and got the idea that the pieces could be connected to form a triangle or a square depending on how things were put together.  Then the students had about 15 minutes to come up with their own creation, which they either took with them or ceremoniously deposited in the trash on their way out.

Because I had bought too many supplies for this project, I decided to let my 6th graders also complete the challenge as part of their study on space.  Students could choose whether to build the tallest structure possible or a “moon base” for people to live in.  The middle school students understood the building concepts better but still were challenged by the structural integrity of the materials.  Some students had prior experience with trusses and their designs reflected their understanding, although the brittle spaghetti did not necessarily make their building any more sturdy.

 

Materials/Requirements:

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–>  Apples:  I got a large bag of red delicious apples from Costco for this.  I sliced the apples into ~1″ pieces the night before and transported them to school in large containers and gallon Ziploc bags.

–> Spaghetti:  I got one huge package from Costco and this was more than enough for all the building.  Between days I would throw out all the small pieces and just reuse the pieces that were long enough to work with again.

–>  Paper plates for protecting the tables.

–>  Paper or plastic bowls/yogurt containers for distributing the materials

 

Conclusions/Reflections for the future:

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This was a fun building challenge for most of the students.  If you search for “engineering challenge” online, the vast majority that you’ll find are plans for building bridges and towers out of gummy bears, marshmallows, or a large quantity of expensive popsicle sticks.  This year I had a student who was extremely severely allergic to peanuts so I had to find products that had no possibility of cross contamination so that the room would be safe for him.  Apples and spaghetti worked well and didn’t have a significant amount of prep time.  I also liked that the spaghetti could be broken into different lengths as needed as opposed to just using toothpicks with a fixed length.  The room did become rather sticky but I made sure this activity was over and done with as soon as possible so that we could clean up properly.   Students were reminded numerous times not to eat the materials and the vast majority did abide, aside from the few who just had to try eating raw spaghetti.

In terms of the actual building, spaghetti does indeed have its limitations so even the items with the best structure will become flexible or absurdly fragile.  Some students really took the designing to heart while others ended up giving up trying to make it look like something and made gigantic prickly messes.   I’m glad to know that these allergen free items will work for this type of engineering, but for now I think I’ll save this activity and not repeat it for a while.

 

Digital Resources:

K1 Persistence Presentation

Engineering Challenge:  Apples and Spaghetti

 

Idea Sources:

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Marshmallow Challenge

Preschool Powol Packets:  Apple Toothpick Tower Challenge